In the fall of 1985 at the University at Buffalo, sixteen young men of various ethnic backgrounds decided to form a support group that would provide a social and cultural outlet for students of Latin American descent. The university's Greek system lacked an organization dedicated to the needs of the Latino community. To meet those needs, the group chose to pursue recognition as the first Latino-oriented Greek-letter organization on campus. After a brief period of time of being recognized as a colony of La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. by their institution, the individuals who had joined the group would go on to secede from the rest of Lambda Upsilon Lambda in 1988. In the process of which, they founded the Alpha chapter of Latino America Unida, Lambda Alpha Upsilon Fraternity, Inc., with them choosing the establishment date of the former colony as the founding date for the fraternity as a whole.[4][5]
The founding fathers are recognized by the fraternity as:
Antonio Adorno
José Betances
Miguel Buitrago
Manuel Cáceres
José Chiu
Ronald Ellín
Daniel Figueroa III
Victor Gutiérrez
Justo León
Julio Martínez Jr.
José Núñez
Antonio Rodríguez
Daryl Salas
Manny Sánchez
José Soto
Simón Vélez
Chapters
Undergraduate chapters
Lambda Alpha Upsilon reserves the Lambda chapter designation for deceased Hermanos.[6] In the chapter list below, active chapters ae indicated in bold and inactive chapters are in italics.[1][7]
^This chapter was initially established as a colony of Lambda Upsilon Lambda in 1985. It would go onto rebrand itself as the Alpha chapter of Lambda Alpha Upsilon in 1988.
Alumni chapters
Iterations beginning with the letter Lambda are reserved for alumni chapters as described below.[1] The alumni chapters of Lambda Alpha Upsilon consist of working professionals and graduate-level students who were inducted as undergraduate members and are established in the workforce or continuing their education while deciding to remain active within the fraternity. Lambda Alpha Upsilon also inducts interested men with at least a bachelor's degree into one of the alumni chapters through the Graduate Induction Process. Lambda Alpha Upsilon officially recognizes the following alumni chapters: